I wanted to join the Estee Lauder Model Search a few years ago but never really found the time or had the guts to do it. Of course, I have been blessed with other opportunities similar to this but this has been on my mind for sometime now.
When my sis called me and asked if I wanted to join, I immediately said yes. We planned to rope in our two cousins but in the end, it was just me and my sis.
I think there’s something about growing older that makes one more daring. I never would have dared to do this when I was in my 20s. Age must be catching up with me, or thoughts of mortality are!
Coincidentally the Estee Lauder Model Search was happening in Queensbay Mall (and which I proclaim to everyone that it is just 2 minutes away from my apartment) during the 10 to 13 June weekend. My sis, the teacher, came to Penang at the right time. It was the school holidays.
I’m not that stupid to think that it is not a marketing thingy. It is. Estee Lauder knows that every woman wants to look gorgeous, even those who never admit it to themselves. I’m vain enough to admit that I like dolling up and looking good. Well, I’m only 36 once in my life.
The deal was, you paid RM280 for the whole package: they put makeup on you, styled your hair, get you changed into Eclipse clothes. They then put you in front of the camera for 10 minutes. You get to pose for 20 photos. Then you sit with the digital artist as you pick your best photo from 20 photos. The digital artist then does her magic – Adobe Photoshop magic that is – and airbrush your imperfections out.
That is how those picture-perfect models on magazine covers get so drop dead gorgeous. That is how regular women like me and my sis get our 5 minutes of wannabe model aspirations realized.
You will look ravishing and delicious and hot. You get to go home with this instant A4 print-out. (They also try to sell you all sorts of packages – 4 touched up printouts for how much etc.)
I had made up my mind not to buy anything else but I was quite surprised that my husband wanted all the 20 digital images and paid RM150 for the CD. He said he would do the touch-ups himself – that’s the Photoshop artist in him talking.
Of course, we also get RM230 in a redeemable voucher for Estee Lauder products which we had to redeem on the day itself. There’s also an option – if we decide to join the Model Search or not. Guess which option my sis and I took? We took the chance to enter ourselves into the model search. After all, why not? The worse we could do is end up as a semi-finalist haha.
The most important thing is, Mei and I had lots of fun. It was the first time I wore fake eye lashes (it was irritating as hell as I was wearing my glasses then and it brushed against the glasses all the time). My mom, dad and aunt came to support our little adventure that Saturday afternoon. Oh yes, Nic too. He almost walked past me as he didn’t recognize me in all that makeup!
The best thing was, I managed to drag two good friends, Soh Peng and Gim Hwee, to the Estee makeover the next day. They were visiting us over the weekend.
I knew Soh Peng was game but Gim Hwee was shy, even reluctant! Both are teachers and I knew Gim Hwee would be absolutely beautiful with makeup. (She thinks she looks good in her t-shirt and khakis but dear girl, you don’t know the beauty you have in you! All it needs is a bit of makeup and glamour.)
Come to think of it, all women need a bit of makeup and glamour once in a while.
Catch Part 2 where I show you how Gim Hwee and Soh Peng look like after their makeover!
Pssst..the secret I found out is that the makeup artist really highlights your eyes with intense colours and fake lashes and plays down the lips. The lips get the gloss which makes them all pouty and shiny. Hair is also important. Styling one’s hair dramatically changes one’s look. So the focus is on the eyes, the mirror of your soul. Corny? Yup. Oh we are such suckers. Sigh!
More photos at my Facebook page.